Former Jacksonville Jaguars, Sam Young was signed by the Dolphins on Wednesday as free agency kicked in to full gear. The signing of Young slipped under the radar amongst all of the noise surrounding contract negotiations with Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, Mario Williams, Matt Forte and others. Ultimately, the Dolphins lost several key players yesterday.

They allowed multiple talented players to walk without compensation including Olivier Vernon, Rishard Matthews, Derrick Shelby, Lamar Miller, and Brent Grimes. That has to sting for a front office that is already highly criticized. However, the good news is Miami will receive some high quality compensatory draft picks for losing Vernon and Miller. The Dolphins will certainly use one if not multiple draft picks in an attempted to secure their offensive line which has been one of their biggest weaknesses the past three seasons.

No rumors have surfaced about the Dolphins trying to sign any big name offensive guards in free agency, leaving us to assume they are relying heavily on the draft. The guards currently on the active roster include Jamil Douglas, Billy Turner, and Dallas Thomas. None of these three have earned a locked in starting role. The tackle position on the other hand is essentially decided. Branden Albert is the starting left tackle and Ja’Wuan James at right tackle.

So what will newly signed tackle, Sam Young’s role be on this team? Nothing more than a backup unfortunately. Young is Jason Fox 2.0. He is a younger, slightly more athletic version of Fox but when it’s all said and done their talent level is almost identical. Young has been in the league since 2010 and has only started a handful of games. Therefore, don’t expect Young to slide in to starting guard spot, and don’t expect him to compete with James to start at right tackle. He was signed for one purpose: a security blanket. Both Albert and James have both suffered injuries over the past two seasons so signing an experienced backup tackle was important for Miami and fortunately they were able to do it at a great price, $910,000 for a one year deal.